Few politicians have done less to earn their swagger than felonious former Gov. Rod Blagojevich has his.

Few politicians have done less to earn their swagger than felonious former Gov. Rod Blagojevich has his.

Nonetheless, there he was, not only channeling his best, most defiant Elvis posture immediately after the trial in proclaiming his innocence, but on any talk show that would have him, going on ... and on ... and on about how he hadn't let anybody down, how he's just a little ol' victim in all this.

He repeated the fiction that he is "eager to testify" in a second trial, even though he didn't when he had the chance the first time around. Again, he was not trying to sell a U.S. Senate seat or to hold hostage the plans of a Chicago children's hospital in exchange for a campaign contribution, merely "brainstorming, discussing things."

"That's how politics works," he would say on Fox News in a confrontational interview with Chris Wallace, who suffered no end of frustration as Blagojevich avoided answering one direct question after another so that he could cover his rehearsed talking points instead. "It's political horse trading that these prosecutors are trying to criminalize."

Ah, those prosecutors ... er, make that persecutors. They weren't stopping a "crime spree" when they had him arrested in December 2008, merely interrupting the good works of a conscientious governor on behalf of "the people" - the same people he's appealing to now, even though they didn't appreciate him before. "Only 13 percent of you think I'm doing a good job, so (profanity) all of you," he was heard saying in a secretly recorded conversation. This from a man who, conveniently, has again found religion, when he's not comparing himself to Winston Churchill: The hung jury "just confirms again, praise God."

It can all be a bit much to stomach after awhile.

Obviously, those tapes didn't quite get the job done, as Blagojevich dodged 23 of the 24 bullets coming his way from Uncle Sam.

Still, that gives him no reason to act as if he was acquitted, which he wasn't. But for the gullibility of a single juror and his own stunning incompetence - at seemingly everything - he might well be singing a far less cocky tune. Alas, this is a family incapable of shame, as we learned when they paraded their own daughters before the jury for closing arguments.

Clearly he's already forgotten his own mini-confession near the end of his trial: "I've learned a lot of lessons from this whole experience, and perhaps ... the biggest lesson I've learned is that I talk too much." That realization isn't stopping him now, but why would it? It semi-worked the first time. The Woe Is Me Media Tour, Part II, continues.

He's already succeeded somewhat in turning the tables on U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald, who's on trial himself these days, at least in the court of public opinion. The Wall Street Journal's opinion page, still smarting over Fitzgerald's pursuit of Scooter Libby, doesn't much care for him, calling him "another unaccountable federal prosecutor run amok." It would seem to have an unlikely ally in the Washington Post, which no longer finds Fitzgerald the fair-haired one either.

Undeterred, Fitzgerald has vowed to retry Blagojevich. Should he?

As we have learned, it's hard to get past the one, as there was in the reported 11 to 1 jury vote to convict on the most serious of the charges against Blagojevich - allegedly attempting to sell the Senate seat - and as there was in the Legislature in the vote for impeachment.

Still, conviction on the most serious count was close enough here that Fitzgerald deserves another swing at this. He should make things simpler this time on a different jury, concentrate on the major allegations of malfeasance, not be shy about calling certain witnesses no matter how uncomfortable it might be for them to testify.

Certainly there's a cost to federal taxpayers of climbing back into the courtroom with Blagojevich again, but it's nowhere near the cost of letting already jaded Illinoisans believe that you can get away with almost anything in this state. With so many with so little faith in our public institutions now, arguably we can afford that least of all.

Our only regret is that a second trial won't be at the federal courthouse in Peoria - hey, we successfully handled the nation's lone "enemy combatant" - so the locals could witness how the antics of the ex-gov and his sometimes comparably cartoonish lawyer play in less of a circus environment, without the sycophants lining up to shake the defendant's hand and get his autograph.

On that last score, it's worth noting that a much-in-demand Blagojevich still found time last week to sell his signature at a comic book convention in the Chicago area - at $50 apiece, $80 with photo, just a tad more than the John Hancock from guy who played Robin the Boy Wonder in the 1960s "Batman" TV series. That's about right, we'd say. This caricature of a superhero may get to plan his fantasy political comeback in a skin-tight orange jumpsuit yet. We shall see.